Social distance between local residents and African–American expatriates in the context of Ghana's slavery-based heritage tourism

Aaron Yankholmes, Dallen Timothy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper explores the social distance between local residents and African–Americans who have settled in Ghana since the 1960s. Data generated from in-depth interviews suggest the African–American expatriates felt their proximity to collective slave memory or particularly slavery heritage conferred on them certain rights to exclude local residents who are more susceptible to forgetting the past. By appropriating traces of the past, the African–American expatriates provide a range of tourism services, albeit to visitors they believed subscribed to socially constructed meanings elicited at slave sites. The study suggests explicit recognition of African–American expatriates in the levels of contestations that result from slavery-based heritage tourism.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)486-495
Number of pages10
JournalInternational Journal of Tourism Research
Volume19
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2017

Keywords

  • African–American expatriates
  • Ghana, strangers
  • Transatlantic Slave Trade
  • slavery-based heritage tourism
  • social distance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Transportation
  • Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
  • Nature and Landscape Conservation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Social distance between local residents and African–American expatriates in the context of Ghana's slavery-based heritage tourism'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this